Thank you, Madam Speaker. Further to my comments the other day on the United States military activity in the north Baffin from 1956 to 1958, I thought I would make a statement today to clarify the situation for Members.
What we have managed to find out has raised more questions than have been answered. We do know that the experiments involved dropping a substance from an airplane and taking pictures of this using a flash mechanism powerful enough to turn the winter nights into day. We know, Madam Speaker, that a lot of people in the region developed painful blisters and boils upon their skin. I myself remember not being able to walk for three months due to pain associated with a skin condition. We do know that a lot of seemingly healthy people died shortly after we observed this phenomenon.
Madam Speaker, I can remember myself, and the honourable Member for High Arctic, giving interviews on this matter in the spring of 1987 to Peter Downing from the CBC Midday show. This interview never made it to air. The reason given was that the tape was lost on the way to the airport from Mr. Pudluk's office. I was later told that CBC Television was not going to air this interview, even if they had it.
As a result of this, CBC Yellowknife got interested in the story and I gave another interview for the radio. This interview aired once at 6:30 in the morning. Then I asked why it wasn't aired on the 7:30 and 8:30 newscasts. I was told by the regional manager, at the time, they could not air the interview.
Madam Speaker, I have been told by former MPs and friends that I had at the federal Cabinet that the information does exist outlining what happened in the north Baffin in the late 1950s. But that information is a matter of national security. What we don't know, Madam Speaker, is what the substance was the United States Air Force was photographing as it descended to the ground. Given the recent developments in the United States, that uncovered citizens who were...